Aldo Ciccolini plays Mozart and Clementi

In December 2011, only seven months after recording a CD of works by Mozart, Aldo Ciccolini again used a C. Bechstein D 280 concert grand (No. 192555) tuned by Jean-Louis Mascaro to record another CD (Harmonia Mundi/La Dolce Volta, LDV 06 / 07045). This disc includes not only three works by Mozart (Fantasy in C Minor KV475, Sonata in C Minor KV457 and Sonata in F Major KV332), but also Muzio Clementi’s Sonata in G Minor Op. 34 No. 2.

Critics unanimously praised this new achievement by a pianist now aged eighty-seven. In a radio report broadcast by HR2, for example, a journalist states, “According to Ciccolini, Mozart and Clementi share the same dramatic dimension. . . . Musicologists recently established that Mozart composed his Sonata in F Major in 1783, that is, shortly before the Sonata in C Minor. While Ciccolini plays the latter work in a quite tragic, almost desperate way, he gives the former a totally different touch. The second movement is a heartfelt adagio, almost an aria, in which the composer tells much of himself. As Ciccolini interprets it, he transforms his Bechstein grand into a lyrical soprano singer, adorning the melody with a wealth of colours. . . . And when he plays Clementi’s sonata, he renders its fugatos and sound images using a modern piano with an incredibly inspiring voice.”